Health Care System & Education
|
Tansania
|

Tackling the hidden epidemic of non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

Organisation: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Partner country: Tanzania
Partner organisation in partner country: Ifakara Health Institute, St.Francis Referral Hospital
Image: Health center

Situation:

Tanzania is a low-income country with a rapidly growing population of currently 58 million people. While considerable success has been achieved in the containment and treatment of infectious diseases, the burden of disease in chronic non-communicable diseases remains high. Specialist care is only available at very few centers in the country, and people in rural areas in particular usually have no access to it at all.
 

Objectives:

The main goals of the project are to create a care structure for chronic heart and lung diseases at a specialist level in rural Tanzania. Local doctors, nurses and health professionals will also be trained in the detection and treatment of chronic heart and lung diseases. Finally, the facility is also intended to improve the local population's knowledge of chronic heart and lung diseases and their prevention.

Indicators:
  • Training of at least three doctors and four nurses in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart and lung diseases
  • Number of quality-assured diagnoses or number of patients with confirmed diagnoses for heart and lung diseases
  • Number of patients in regular follow-up for heart and lung diseases

 

 

Measures:
  • Infrastructure: new clinic building for the Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Diseases
  • Training of doctors in a similar way to specialist training in Germany (direct supervision, training modules, exchange)
  • Operation of an outpatient clinic for heart and lung diseases and specialist visits to inpatients at the hospital
  • Outreach programs in the vicinity of the hospital

 

 

Sustainability:

The Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Diseases is fundamentally geared towards sustainable operation, both in terms of personnel through the training of specialists and financially through integration into the local health system.

Special features:

For the first time ever, specialist medical care for heart and lung diseases will be available to the local population in a rural region in Tanzania.